Combat Ready

Gw Sailors Get Training And More Training

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON — Technically, George Washington Battle Group sailors have spent the last six weeks at sea prepping for a 6-month overseas deployment.

In reality, they're readying for combat and their chances of seeing it are high.

"Since 1997, every carrier that has deployed has gone into combat, every carrier deployed has been in combat operations," said Capt. Martin J. Erdossy, the George Washington's commander.

During his 30-year military career, Erdossy said four of his five deployments have ended in combat.

"I won't tell you this is the same as the others. These are new and very extraordinary times," said Erdossy, who's from Marysville, Pa., near Harrisburg.

In the last two years, terrorists have bombed the Norfolk-based USS Cole, leveled the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. In that time, aircraft carriers like the George Washington -- or the GW as it is known -- have gone from being considered 4.5-acre targets to being the most important fighting platforms in the military.

But that kind of celebrity puts a lot of pressure on carrier crews and carrier captains like Erdossy to be near flawless.

So far, the strain doesn't seem to be showing.

"They are performing very well. We've asked a lot of this battle group," said Vice Adm. Cutler Dawson, commander of the U.S. Second Fleet, which trains Atlantic Fleet ships' crews.

The Second Fleet commander is responsible for training all East Coast battle groups and certifying them as ready for deployment.

Though the George Washington Battle Group has yet to be officially certified, Dawson said he sees no problems in that happening.

"We've compressed their training. They were training in the Caribbean up until just recently and then we brought them up here (off the Carolina Coast) to finish their training. And they haven't missed a beat. They are ready in all respects for deployment."

"Every challenge that they may face when they are deployed, they are seeing now. But they are seeing it all at once," Dawson said.

Usually there's about a month between intermediate training and the advanced training the battle group is expected to complete. This time around the two were back-to-back.

George Washington pilots are also working on lessons learned in Afghanistan.

One of those lessons has to do with what's called "time sensitive targeting" -- the ability to hit targets that suddenly appear and that will probably just as suddenly disappear.

Closely aligned to this is target identification. Everyone in the Navy is acutely aware of the mistakes U.S. pilots have made by misidentifying friendly forces for foes and the deaths that have followed.

Lt. j.g. Mark Sand, an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, said he and his fellow pilots have spent hours over St. Thomas and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands looking for specific buildings in case they are called upon to perform urban missions.

"I think everyone is feeling like, 'Hey, we are ready.' The feeling I get is that everyone is ready to cruise," said Sand, 25.

Sand said that besides target identification, fellow pilots have also spent a lot of time dropping bombs and looking for targets during the military exercise that ended Sunday. In some cases, the pilots had to find inflatable tanks.

The pilots are also training for the extremely long distances that they might encounter.

During the exercise, 13,000 people and 26 ships took part in a Joint Task Force Exercise in the water off the East Coast and on training ranges in North Carolina and Florida.

The George Washington Battle Group will leave Hampton Roads in June for a six-month deployment. It will relieve the John F. Kennedy Battle Group, which left Mayport, Fla. in February.

Rick Rogers can be reached at 247-4629 or by e- mail at rrogers@dailypress.com